On behalf of All India Naval Technical Supervisory Staff Association, I welcome and wish all the success to the 7th Pay Commission in their mission of evolving pay structures and other related matters, which is expected to be fair enough for the government employees to lead a dignified life and perform their duties effectively and efficiently.

AINTSSA represents about 4000 Technical Supervisors working in Indian Navy in various Naval establishments of the Nation. They are basically from all the branches of engineering – including Civil , Mechanical , production, Electrical , Computer, Electronics & Telecom Engineering etc. They supervise and guide around 26000 workforce of Navy.

We present this memorandum to 7th CPC representing the following categories in the Indian Navy:Around 2400 Chargeman Around 1600 Foreman
Degree of skills, strain of work and requirement of knowledge, experience & expertise, continued & updated technical knowledge with effective training, mounting responsibility and accountability, multifaceted work contents, working condition with hazards and fatigue, mental & physical strain pertaining to these categories have been elaborately explained in the subsequent explanations.

The key to efficiency and competitive spirit in work lies not only in getting appropriate salary for the job but also with dignity & status. We welcome the provisions provided in the terms of reference. Those strategies are to be evolved in order to attract talents and retain them in service which is considered to be the need of the day in the globalised era.

Important role of these middle level managers was recognized by 3rd & 4th CPC which exclusively granted appropriate pay scales to technical supervisors based on their job contents and other factors. But it was shattered by the V & VI CPC which completely ignored their duties and responsibilities and diluted their status by seriously disturbing their relativity.

Further the fact that Naval Dockyards, NSRYs, Training centers and Ship building establishments of Indian Navy are basically technical organizations and the safe successful and efficient performance of the organizations lies primarily in the hands of their technical work forces who are supervised, trained and overseen by these technical supervisors.

7th CPC is requested to look into the serious anomalies caused especially by the Sixth CPC which have demoralized the category due to non-redressal of these anomalies – as brought out in this Memorandum. We request the Pay Commission to kindly evolve a replacement scale to the categories and ensure natural justice and dignity.

Technical Supervisors shoulder the direct responsibilities of safe, efficient & ‘Failure proof’ production, repair, maintenance and operation of almost all the systems of Naval warships of Indian Navy. Reduction of manpower in artisan staff, introduction of new ships, addition of new assets and introduction of new & modern technologies etc, have substantially added to their duties and responsibilities over the years. Other departments provide only necessary support to them in order to enable them to discharge their functions.

It is unfortunate that both 5th and 6th Pay Commissions had underestimated the significance and sensitiveness of the work-content of the technical supervisors, their responsibility and accountability. Many vital factors like their ‘Professional qualifications’ & ‘greater responsibilities’ as well as the accountability towards public safety and efficiency of the Nation went out of sight of both these Pay Commissions.

But, supporting categories like Accounts, Teachers and Nurses who were all along in the lower pay scales than the Technical Supervisors, were given up-gradation and were placed even two grades higher than Technical Supervisors. Worse and even more humiliating is the fact that the pay of categories like MCM, which work under the Technical Supervisors, were also equated with them – undermining the Supreme Court judgment of “the supervisor’s pay cannot be equal to the person being supervised”.

It is our earnest request that 7th CPC may consider the facts brought out in our memorandum. Commission is requested to remove various obstacles that come in the way of attracting talents to the technical supervisory cadre of Indian navy and in improving the efficiency of working system for which the Commission may kindly provide appropriate replacement scales for Chargemen and Foremen, which may justify the relativity of the emoluments in accordance with the job contents, working conditions, accountability & responsibilities, multi-faceted skills & critical management capacity.

I, also earnestly believe that we may be summoned for tendering oral evidence before 7th CPC in line with the earlier CPCs.